Health Services: Transgender People

The government is committed to ensuring that trans people receive the care and support they need when accessing National Health Services. Regarding Children and Young People’s Gender Services, the government and NHS England have committed to implementing all of the recommendations of the Cass Review.

The independent Darzi investigation found that NHS waiting times have surged, have become normalised across the NHS, and as a result public satisfaction has declined. The Cass review also noted the unacceptable waiting times across Children and Young People’s Gender Services. The government and NHS England are working to improve Children and Young People’s Gender Services in a variety of ways, including expanding the number of services offered. The Government and NHS England are committed to implementing the recommendations from the Cass Review to ensure children and young people with gender incongruence get the holistic care they need. In line with NHS England’s ambitious two-year implementation plan, three new services in the North-West, London, and South West have now opened. A fourth service in the East of England will open in spring of next year. NHS England is advancing towards meeting its commitment for there to be a specialist children’s gender service in every region by 2026.

NHS England has also increased the number of adult Gender Dysphoria Clinics in England from seven to 12, with the rollout of five new adult gender pilot clinics since July 2020. The rollout of these new clinics is helping to tackle long waiting times, which had increased due to a shortage of specialist clinical staff to meet the rapidly rising demand. NHS England is currently undertaking a review of the Adult Gender Services which will examine the model of care and operating procedures of each service, with the aim of producing an updated service specification.

NHS England has also increased capacity by recruiting new staff and enabling existing staff to complete further training to expand their role, across services. NHS England is currently undertaking a review of adult gender services, chaired by Dr David Levy. The review will examine the model of care and operating procedures of each service, and will carefully consider experiences, feedback, and outcomes from clinicians and patients, with the aim of producing an updated service specification.